Shalom, Harlam families and friends! We are pleased to announce that registration is now open for Camp Harlam's Third Annual Family Camp program!

REGISTER NOWfor this fun-filled, family-friendly weekend at camp. Space is limited (last year we sold out!) so register early to reserve your spot.

Family Camp

Friday, August 25 - Sunday, August 27, 2017

Camp Harlam | Kunkletown, PA

Open to children of all ages and their families

Family Camp is the ultimate Jewish family weekend getaway and a great opportunity for parents and children of all ages to discover the incredible experience of a Camp Harlam Shabbat. The young and young-at-heart will spend much of their weekend together - climbing or swinging on one of our Adventure elements, swimming, creating arts & crafts projects, learning camp songs, enjoying outdoor and indoor sports, as well as participating in many of the other great activities that camp offers during the summer. Families will treasure these shared camp memories. There will be "Parents Only" sessions and activities, as well as "Camper Only" programming with our staff.

Questions?Please call me at 215-498-1270 or email. We will arrange a phone, face-to-face, free consultation to answer questions about fit and costs. We follow up by directing you to the right JCHAI directors! Our individualized, flexible programs offer supports in one's own home or community, in our community-integrated Supported Apartment program, and/or in classes and trips! We take ID and Autism waivers for some programs and our fun social opportunities are offered on an a la carte basis.

We have been invited to an intriguing interfaith opportunity at Saint Luke Lutheran Church in Devon. Heidi Neumark, author of Hidden Inheritance: Family Secrets, Memory and Faith, will be speaking and answering questions about her book. Heidi is a Lutheran pastor who discovered as an adult that she has a hidden Jewish heritage, including several family members who died in concentration camps. Hidden Inheritance is available through Amazon. The Good Reads link is below. Even if you can’t read the book quickly enough, Heidi sounds like an interesting person to listen to.

For Thursday, June 15th noon at we will tackle the topic of resilience in difficult times by discussing Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant's interview with Krista Tippet on their new book Option B. This is an important book. The podcast can be found here.

Cleaning, Painting, Gardening - its a Mitzvah to show some love and elbow grease to our shared home. Join us for the fun. Bagels in the morning and lunch in the afternoon will be served. We will pull up our sleeves, blast some music and get to work. If you cannot come and join the party please donate some cleaning supplies, paint or tools instead.

Calling all World War II and Korean War vets! Honor Flight Philadelphia offers a FREE trip to Washington DC monuments on June 10, 2017 for these veterans. If you are, or know of, a WWII or Korean War vet, visit: www.honorflightphiladelphia.org for a veteran application and more details regarding the trip or contact: Willi at 610-431-0911. Victoria Robinson and Steve Shalet have been guardian escorts on HFP and hope to be on this trip.

One Sunday each month, 750-1,000+ volunteers of all ages and backgrounds meet as a community at our northeast Philadelphia warehouse. Volunteers pack fresh produce and non-perishable kosher food, load their cars with boxes, and deliver food and a smile into the homes of those in need.

Join Fellow Beth Chaim Members June 4 to pack and deliver food for JRA

Bridging Ceremony and Congregational Picnic

Please join us as the 7th graders in the Religious School "bridge" to confirmation class! There will be awards for many students in areas such as attendance and spirituality. After the bridging ceremony, there will be the congregational picnic. The Men's club will be grilling hamburgers and hotdogs, but feel free to bring your own picnic lunch if these options don't appeal to you. We are asking for volunteers to bring favorite picnic items to share. There will be also be cake!

There will be outside activities as well as a Gaga pit from Camp Harlem!

NOTE: Bridging Ceremony will be from 10-11, picnic immediately following.

BCRC's Garden Committee invites kids of all ages to help plant summer crops!

Bring a plant or two from the list below and join us at Beth Chaim on May 21. Planting will take place directly following the Bridging Ceremony.

All who signup have the opportunity to plant, water and/or create a veggie sign. We are also in need of a few volunteers. Parents will assist ages 6 and under to plant. All ages are welcome: If your kiddo can walk, your kiddo can plant!

If possible, shop your local nursery for heirloom, organic plants and seed packets. Keep transplant size between 4" and 8" high and choose plants with no fruit or flowers.

You are invited to join POWER Metro for a discussion of one of Pennsylvania's chief moral crises - the racial bias inherent in the distribution of state education money.

Come learn about persistent patterns of racial injustice from the man who discovered them. David Mosenkis, a member of Germantown Jewish Center and a leader in POWER, put his skills as a data analyst to work and discovered that the absence of a funding formula in Pennsylvania resulted in the biggest gaps between rich and poor school districts in the country - and that the whiter a school district’s student body, the greater share of state funding it receives over its fair share (read more here).

Thanks in large part to his research and to POWER’s advocacy, a fair funding formula has been adopted, but grave injustice persists.

David will tell the story of the progress we’ve made so far, and what we can do to make the public schools we fund work for all students, regardless of race or zip code. This event is the kick-off for a new season of actions in our movement to bring fairness to all students in Pennsylvania.

BCRC is building a community garden! It's not just any garden, but an organic vegetable garden with the purpose of expressing our faith through core Jewish values. Examples like feeding the hungry, protecting our environment, promoting health and well-being.

Volunteering for 90 minutes on May 7th, will help lay the ground work for BCRC to continue supporting the Stop Hunger Now campaign in our community. Our gardens will provide fresh, organic vegetables every week, during peak harvest times, to local food banks within the West Chester area. BCRC will donate 90% of total harvested weight. That's huge!

Our religious school students plan to plant summer crops on May 21st.

Please come out on May 7th and help this social action project take "root".

Join us on Sunday, April 23, 2017 in the "Race To Recovery," a 1 mile walk, roll [a wheelchair] or 5K run. Our Mitzvah Network invites you to help support the Brain Injury Association of Pennsylvania; the Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital is sponsoring this event for BIA-PA. New BCRC member Natanya Sortland's Team, "Moving A Head," needs active participants, to raise money and to be with us to learn about brain injuries. Sun. 4/23/17 at East Goshen Twp. Park in Malvern. Registration starts at 9 A.M, the 5K race starts at 10:30 and the 1 mile walk/roll starts at 10:45; $25 registration fee for participants. For details, contact Victoria Robinson, at 610-696-8326 or bunyipltd@msn.com. The Team website is https:// shar.es/1UPHAP. Thank you!